Terrorism, Technology Drive Pacific Intelligence Needs

Signal,  Oct 2007  by Ackerman, Robert K

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Collaborating with allies is key to securing the world's largest ocean.

Improving effective intelligence links with dozens of disparate nations may be the key to prevailing on the Asia-Pacific front in the Global War on Terrorism. A changing enemy, diverse allies and emerging technologies are bringing about a sea change in intelligence operations throughout the Pacific theater.

The U.S. Pacific Command (PACOM) must adapt to new players and techniques on the terrorist side while it adopts advanced intelligence technologies such as Web 2.0 tools. The diverse allies and their varied relations with their neighbors and the United States provide a challenging template for exchanging key intelligence information. And, China's test of an antisatellite (ASAT) system has altered relationships throughout the region.

So PACOM intelligence operations must embrace revolutionary change in both the cultural and technological arenas. "The biggest enemy in this business is complacency," declares Rear Adm. Andrew M. Singer, USN, director for intelligence (J-2), PACOM, and director of the PACOM Joint Intelligence Operations Center (JIOC).

"The world has changed. This isn't about taking more pictures or intercepting more communications or having more spies than the enemy," the admiral observes. "This is really about bringing all the information together to make the right predictions and have the right knowledge to give insight to our leadership."

The Global War on Terrorism is being waged extensively throughout PACOM 's large area of operations, and the command faces many difficult tasks in acquiring effective intelligence on its adversaries. Adm. Singer relates that the terrorist network has changed from a centralized network driven by Osama bin Laden to a more amorphous structure. The border between pure terrorists and criminal elements has blurred with both types affiliating for their own advancement. "We've gone from an army of al Qaida operating around the world to a decentralized [structure] where you have organizations that affiliate themselves with al Qaida to justify things that aren't exactly ideologically pure," the admiral observes.

Nations such as the Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia have demonstrated significant progress against terrorists, he continues. These nations have killed or captured several key terrorists, and the decentralized nature of the new terrorist infrastructure now makes it harder for successors to establish the same bona fides. While there are pockets of support for al Qaida and its aims, the active terrorist network is lacking because its command and control network has been disrupted, the admiral reports.

One key intelligence mission is to infiltrate terrorist networks, both human and technological, to prevent future terror operations. That has not changed, but the admiral notes that conventional wisdom has the terrorists conducting asymmetric operations against the strengths of the United States and its allies- and all the West has to do is change its strengths. He believes, however, that instead the United States must change the way it does business. "We are smarter than these guys; we can outthink and outsmart these guys; and we just have to do it," he declares.

Internally, that means changing structure, policies and skill sets to overcome the challenge posed by al Qaida. That adjustment is going well, but it can go faster, the admiral observes. "We have a lot of the pieces already in our toolkit, but we must put mem in a different arrangement so that we can use them effectively," he says. On a national scale, those pieces are coming together, but progress is lagging a bit at the theater level.

Building relationships with foreign partners is an important element in that effort, Adm. Singer explains. Al Qaida and its associated groups operate throughout Asia, and efforts by local governments are key to stopping the terrorists. "The reality is that Indonesians, Malaysians and Philippinos know more about bad actors in their countries than we will," he continues. "Between their police and their intelligence apparatus, they have better knowledge on most of those foes than we do."

The command is sharing a lot of intelligence with other nations in the region, the admiral imparts. The greatest degree of sharing takes place with staunch allies such as Australia, Japan and South Korea. The command is looking to increase cooperation and information sharing with other countries such as Singapore, Malaysia and India. Even China, where PACOM has what the admiral characterizes as a nascent relationship, may see an increase in information sharing.

The prime instrument for exchanging information with Pacific allies is the Combined Enterprise Regional Information Exchange System, or CENTRIXS (SIGNAL Magazine, November 2006, page 22, and April 2007, page 75). The command has the necessary technology to share certain levels and categories of information with nations based on existing relationships, the admiral notes. These links are explored and enhanced through bilateral or multinational exercises.